


I Know That Smile

by AHeartForStories



Series: AHeartForStories' Febuwhump 2021 [12]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: "who are you?", Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Astrid Hofferson Whump, Canon Divergence - Hiccup Leaves Before The Final Training Test, FebuWhump2021, Febuwhump, Gen, Medical Help, Mild Blood, Mild Injury, astrid whump, caretaker hiccup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29499249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHeartForStories/pseuds/AHeartForStories
Summary: Written for Febuwhump Day 12. A "Hiccup left Berk" AU. Long ago, Astrid told Hiccup to choose a side shortly before he disapeared the evening he was supposed to turn himself around. When she's saved by the one they call the Dragon Master, she realizes he has picked one.
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Astrid Hofferson, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless
Series: AHeartForStories' Febuwhump 2021 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137413
Comments: 13
Kudos: 97
Collections: febuwhump 2021





	I Know That Smile

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the febuwhump prompt: "Who Are You"?
> 
> Just like Day 11, I finished this one almost immediately. Sadly, couldn't get it up in time either.  
> Enjoyed this one greatly, though!
> 
> Constructive criticism is appreciated.  
> Enjoy!

Astrid remembers standing in the kill ring on Berk, surrounded by destruction. It used to be a maze set up by their teacher for a cat and mouse game between her, her peers, and the Deadly Nadder in the ring with them. All of them were there, the Nadder nursing a sore jaw after Astrid shattered a shield on it.

Before her was Hiccup, cowering on the ground after the destruction she blamed all on him.

He'd put them all in danger, her and him in particular. If it hadn't been for her quick thinking, they both would've gotten killed! Her axe was in a tight grip as she glared down at him, there was anger in her eyes.

"Is this some kind of a joke to you?! Our parents' war is about to become ours, figure out which side you're on." She remembers scolding him, harshly, her axe pointed at him intimidatingly, warningly.

She wanted him to think about his actions, think about what really mattered to him. Continue to be an idiot who doesn't take anything seriously or be the heir they _need_ him to be?

Almost immediately after, it seemed like he'd made his choice, like her words actually made an impact on him.

At the time, it made her angry when Hiccup suddenly became a master at handling dragons and it made her furious when he was given the honor of killing the Monstrous Nightmare at the end of their training. But it was something she would come to make peace with, something she realized too late should've been good for him.

Unfortunately, the day before Hiccup's fight with the Nightmare, he vanished without a trace. And besides the signs of a dragon having had a prolonged stay in the forest he disappeared into every afternoon, there was no telling what happened to him.

Unbeknownst to her, Hiccup had made his choice.

* * *

"No! NO!" When a dragon as black as the night itself, thought to be a Night Fury, rips Astrid off the Trapper ships, she protests as loud as she can. But clearly, neither the dragon nor the rider on top of its back have an ear for her complaints.

There are claws that have her by her waist and they are all that's keeping her from meeting a cold death in the dark ocean far below them. Even if she wanted to escape, its grip on her was much too strong. She'd like her axe back, too, which has been torn out of her hands by the dragon who's given it to the man riding it.

If he even is a man. Astrid isn't sure what kind of a person one would have to be to control a dragon and let one ride it like a horse. Clearly, he isn't entirely right.

She is helpless as she watches the Dragon Trapper ship on the horizon of the night sky as it becomes smaller and smaller until it's hard to make out.

She was on that boat with a mission. Find out what Drago Bludvist was doing in their neighborhood. Chief Stoick didn't seem to trust him when he suddenly showed his face in the Archipelago and she wanted to find out if his concerns were correct.

She believes she was so close to finding something out, so close to gaining their trust. And then they found a Scauldron to capture and the one dubbed the Dragon Master had to show up to stop them. As an added bonus, he'd decided to kidnap her as well.

The Night Fury is fast, speeding across the ocean with a speed she hasn't seen a dragon fly in before. Without a doubt, she's been taken far away from the ship already and she can't imagine she'll be put down anytime soon.

She would like to be, though. Her side is killing her and the dragon's grip on her isn't helping.

Sensing movement above her, Astrid manages to twist herself in a way that allows her to just see the gloved hand of the dragon rider patting the Night Fury's neck and she can almost make out a voice.

Suddenly, it decides to descend, the rider must've given it the command to.

But where do they plan to set down?

Astrid takes a look below her, spotting an island in the distance.

Is that the Dragon Master's home? Surely not as he wouldn't be foolish enough to just show her his home, no matter the condition she's in or even if she's a prisoner or not.

She's an enemy and thus far no one has any idea where the Dragon Master makes his home. Wouldn't he like to keep it that way?

But they land and the second the dragon drops her gracelessly on the ground, she swears she could hear it laugh, Astrid is back up to her feet and ready to run.

The Night Fury sets down and the Dragon Master swiftly dismounts, masked face turning to her as he swings his pegleg over. Her axe is still in his hand and she can see that weird sword of his strapped to his thigh.

But though he's armed and she's not, she's still not totally defenseless.

"You better not try anything, I can still fight!" So Astrid warns him, but he clearly doesn't seem to care. The dragon does, snarling at her threat as if it can understand her.

After glancing at the dragon, its Master approaches her until she has no other choice but to back up. How can he be so fearless in his approach? Is it because he's barely human, like the stories claim? Or does he think nothing of her threat because she's a woman? Either way, she's the one backed up against a tree.

When he stands before her, he does what she least expects him to do.

He hands her the axe.

Though, overcome by surprise, she accepts it and watches as he steps back and gestures towards the entrance of a nearby cave.

So he wants her to follow him and he doesn't seem interesting in forcing her along? The dragon, while it's still snarling, keeps its distance as well. Its narrow pupils are concentrated on her and she hears a deep rumbling coming from the depths of its throat. It isn't attacking, but that growling doesn't sound too friendly either.

Her arm is touched to gain her attention and Astrid jumps out of the Dragon Master's reach, nearly collapsing when pain shoots through her from her middle. A high cry leaves her.

Grabbing her by her arms, the Master is the reason why she doesn't end up falling when he keeps her up on her feet and helps her sit on a nearby rock. It's help she doesn't want or need, but he gives it so readily that she's too surprised to even react.

Isn't he the Dragon Master? He who controls a whole island full of the firebreathing reptiles? The Archipelago's greatest threat on par with Drago Bludvist himself? He's one of the winged devils, why would he help her?

But he goes to his knees in front of her and turns his attention to the wound on her side.

Okay, so maybe these two didn't show up immediately upon the capture of that Scauldron.

Maybe they came after a few hours of that dragon wailing miserably as it missed the water. And perhaps, Astrid isn't as cold-hearted as a dragon killer ought to be and she provided it with the water it so desperately craved when she thought no one was looking. And it could be possible that's how she was found out as a spy and she got into a fight that the Dragon Master conceivably saved her from when he came to release the Scauldron.

Those are a lot of maybes.

And now he's kneeling in front of her, about to treat a swipe from a knife.

He points at the wound to tell her non-verbally that he wants to treat it, but before he can begin, Astrid smacks his hand away.

"How do I know I can trust you?" She asks him with a hard tone, demanding that he prove himself trustworthy.

He can save her, he can be so ready to catch her and help her, but how does she know these actions come from a good place? How does she know she isn't just being taken advantage of in a vulnerable moment? Either to kill or otherwise?

Astrid can barely see anything in those slits where his eyes are supposed to be. The cloudy night doesn't help, she sees nothing but darkness.

And then, after a moment of silent contemplation in which the dragon still keeps its distance, the Master surprises her again.

He takes his helmet off.

When it's his true face she looks at, her first thought isn't how not-devilish he looks, but how young. All this time, she imagined someone years older than her, maybe even someone around the chief's age. Instead, he could very well be as old as her!

And, by the Gods, is he handsome. His looks actually freeze her in place and for a moment Astrid can't breathe.

No, he has to be a devil. No man has ever elicited that kind of a response from her before, nobody can be this... this...

Beautiful.

Smiling at her stumped expression and shaking his head in amusement, he points to her injury again, one eyebrow cocked, and she nods quietly. She's too stunned to actually speak.

But it seems like he's not talking either. Is he mute? Or is there some other reason why he can't just talk to her?

He's respectful of her decency, pulling the knife from his arm brace to make the gash in her tunic just a tad bigger for more accessibility to her wound. This way, she doesn't have to undress for him and he won't see anything she doesn't want him to see.

He gazes back at the Night Fury and gestures that it come forward. Astrid doesn't agree, hand on her axe flexing, but he grabs her wrist after a glance.

Okay, so maybe he's more of a gentleman than she thought this devil would be, but when he doesn't want her to move, he's apparently not above stopping her himself.

The dragon stalks closer, its piercing eyes never leaving her as it lets its rider rummage in a saddlebag in search of medical supplies.

He finds dressings, herbs, and a needle and thread, just in case. So he's planning on stitching her up, is he? Well, she can take it. Without sedative herbs and wine.

He turns back to face her and gets to work. Astrid watches his every move and then she takes notice of his eyes.

There seems to be almost a glow to them and it's almost draconic in nature. The black paint on his face doesn't help as it only makes them stand out even more. Is it to hide that little bit of visible skin in the eyeholes of his mask? All it does now is accentuate his eyes even more.

To her surprise, he has no problem seeing her injured side in such low lighting either. There is only moonlight to work with, if the clouds permit them to have some, and that is seemingly all he needs.

Maybe he isn't as human as he looks, after all.

He finds her injury, one hand on either side as he inspects it closely. It hurts immensely, but it isn't a stab wound. And while long and bloody, it seems to be fairly superficial.

Eventually, he has to determine that it isn't deep enough to be worrisome and would therefore only need to be cleaned and dressed. There are no stitches needed, though Astrid was already bracing herself to show as little pain as possible.

She's a warrior. If she can't take stitching, then why even bother picking up her axe? And she refuses to show any more weakness in front of a foe than she already has.

It doesn't take him long to take care of it. He tells a Terrible Terror Astrid hadn't even seen sitting in a tree to go find him some water, only for it to return with a filled waterskin of all things, which it did not have in its claws when it left. The water he uses to clean her skin of blood, as far as he can reach.

He finishes up quite quickly, dexterous and quite good with medicine it seems. Astrid did take it, with just the occasional wince and cringe that she could not successfully suppress.

But as he's preserving her decency, he's applying the dressings on top of her clothing. It feels odd, but she prefers it this way. No stranger is going to touch her bare skin, even if he saves her life. He seems to understand this, fortunately.

He finishes dressing her wound and their gazes meet as if he's telling her this without words. He draws away from her, hands bloody. He takes the waterskin and sues the remaining water to clean his hands free of blood. When he's done that, he moves to leave.

What is he planning on doing now? Is he just going to leave her alone now? Take his dragon and fly off? Is he going to make camp? She wishes he would tell her something!

But if he's planning on leaving, she can't let him go yet. There's something bothering her ever since he took off his mask, something other than his strange eyes and surprising personality.

"Wait," She grabs his arm in a strong grip and he turns back to her. "Who are you?"

But he doesn't answer her, instead just gives her half of a smirk before he covers his face with that helmet again.

Astrid isn't sure how a smile, of all things, would tip her off. The person that pops in her head didn't even smile all that much. If she remembers him right, she remembers him barely smiling at all growing up.

But that smirk, that nose, those eyes, that fringe, the freckles the paint doesn't hide, ... The jawline is new, but suddenly it all connects to an image she has of somebody she used to know. Astrid is certain she recognizes this man now. She knows who he is.

The Dragon Master turns to leave, but Astrid doesn't quite want him to.

"No, wait!" She tells him again, attempting to get up only to be forced back down by her injured side, hissing.

"Hiccup!"

At that, he stops to face her again. It really is him. And what does he do upon being discovered?

Lift up the mask and smile.

"Rest up and I'll see you tomorrow, Astrid." With that and a finger pointing towards the cave again, he replaces the mask and climbs into the saddle to take off on that dragon of his. He leaves her with many, many questions.

He's not dead.

For years, they've thought the dragon who stayed in their forests for weeks had something to do with his disappearance, that the heir of Berk had been carried off just like his mother.

But then, those scales, she just remembers that they were black, just as black as the dragon he rides upon.

And then one of the last conversations she ever had with Hiccup Haddock of Berk, one of the few she's ever had with him at all, which she remembers regretting immensely following his supposed "death".

It would seem Hiccup _has_ chosen his side.

And yet, is he entirely on the side of the dragons? He did save her and treat her wound without being asked.

Even after all this time, he continues to be a complete enigma to her.

But he did tell her that he would be coming back tomorrow and she'll be demand an answer then. Right now, she's too tired.


End file.
